


Put to Sky

by Augend (orphan_account)



Category: Marvel, The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28654149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Augend
Summary: "Maybe that's a new power," Josh says. "Sticking to walls, having a spidey-sense, and rendering the Human Torch absolutely speechless. Yay me."
Relationships: Josh Lyman & Donna Moss, Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Put to Sky

Josh spends the summer before he starts college getting bruised in the least fun places. He's pretty sure there's a bruise on his ass from tangling with the Green Goblin a week after high school had ended; the Goblin's probably going to be a thorn in his side as long he's keeping up this superhero gig. It doesn't help that Sam is moving to Jersey - _Jersey -_ god, why Jersey of all places - at the end of the summer, and every time they hang at the Statue of Liberty, Josh feels infinitely worse about it. 

His mom's been busy helping him pack up in a borderline enthusiastic way that makes Josh suspicious; Columbia's not that far from Queens. When Josh had asked her about it, she'd cocked her hip and fixed him with a knowing look. "You might've inherited your father's work ethic, Josh," she'd stated, pointedly. "But you've also got his genes for spontaneity."

"When you say it like that, Mom, I'm flattered," he'd said back, and she'd leaned forward and ruffled his hair. 

"He'd be so proud of you, you know," she'd said, and Josh had shifted to look at her. Her eyes had been soft. It doesn't hurt to think about his dad anymore - it's been three years - but Josh still couldn't make his mouth work. 

Then his mom had clapped her hands and said, "Time to deal with those _posters,"_ with an unholy amount of glee that made Josh sink his head in his hands and try not to groan. 

* * *

"So, Spidey," Sam says now, legs dangling over one of the crown's spikes. Josh is cross-legged and Sam's pushing a hand through his stupidly perfect dark hair. His eyes sparkle in the late afternoon sunshine. They're drinking milkshakes after dealing with the Vulture in Brooklyn today. Donna had told him of her suspicions about that last week, while she'd been covering them with a force field during a battle with a swarm of Doombots. Josh still doesn't understand why John Hoynes had renamed himself something as inane as Dr. Doom. Donna had explained that it had something to do with being dramatic and stupid. 

"Yeah," Josh says after a long sip of his chocolate milkshake. When Sam doesn't say anything, he raises an eyebrow, before he realizes that Sam can't see anything because of the mask. "You gonna leave me hanging?" 

"No, I - no, of course not." Sam laughs. His laughter had been the first thing that Josh had noticed about him when he'd been young and dumb and fifteen, veins thrumming with new power and heart hurting with all that had happened. At the time, Josh had wanted to hate him. It had taken five minutes with Sam for his brain to decide, _nope, nope, nope, you like him_ , though it'd took a while for Josh to figure out what degree of like that had meant. 

"Maybe that's a new power," Josh says. "Sticking to walls, having a spidey-sense, and rendering the Human Torch absolutely speechless. Yay me." 

"You're understating the fact that I could easily talk enough for the both of us and then some. I'm a very apt speaker," Sam shoots back. "I could've been thinking of a conversation starter, you know."

"Ok." Josh knocks their shoulders together. "How about this - You're leaving. Who am I supposed to trade quips with when Mysterio's on our ass? Who am I supposed to eat cold pizza with - _Sam,"_ he says, when Sam pushes him back and laughs into the back of his hand. He's striking - Sam's always been striking - but Josh thinks, watching him throw his head back, skin catching the light, that it's a little bit too late for him to keep calling this a temporary thing.

 _A crush_ \- it's gone past that a long time ago. At least, that's what Amy says; but Josh has learned that she can read him like a book. 

He figures he can't dig himself deeper in this hole, anyway. 

* * *

At some point in the next two weeks, Josh starts complaining to Donna about Sam, except it's _not_ complaining about Sam because Josh is totally not moping. 

"I think you're the dictionary definition of moping, actually," she declares, while they're watching Star Trek rerunsat the Baxter Building. Josh is in civvies, mostly because Donna already knows who he is (an incident involving paper bags and Josh ruining his suit and an alien symbiote - _he doesn't want to get into it, okay)_ and the fact that the only other person here is CJ Cregg, who also (unfortunately) knows because of the paper bag incident. Josh's 99 percent sure she would've figured it out anyway; she's Ms. Fantastic, after all. "If it helps, I think that Sam's turned it down a notch this week."

"And what's your evidence for that?" Josh says, shoveling some more popcorn into his mouth. 

"He's less... smiley," Donna notes. "I guess I could say he's being wistful."

"Wistful?" He raises his eyebrows. 

"Wistful," she affirms, and her voice goes knowing in that way that he knows doesn't fare well for him. Donna's wise beyond her sixteen and a half years. Josh looks at his hands. 

"You should tell him," Donna says, quietly. He looks at her, and look, it's not as if the thought hasn't crossed his mind, but there's a small part of his head that always chickens out before he can do it. It says _you're not good enough, you're not good enough for him, and if you tell him, if you show him, he'll realize he's wasting his time._

"Donna," he says, and Josh hates how it comes out pleading. 

"Josh," Donna replies, and her eyes are too kind. Josh's always suspected that she knows more about his feelings for Sam that she lets on; he's wondered if she knows things on the other end too. He's always been too afraid to ask. "I know things are changing and this, well - it's a big thing, too. Just think about it, okay?" 

"Yeah," he says, and she reaches over and squeezes his hand. 

* * *

The two weeks tick by. Josh gets into more tussles with villains, webs up more criminals, talks about more stuff with Donna, packs up more boxes with his mom, and gets more bruises in unsavory places. He avoids Sam for the better part of it. It sucks more than he'd like to admit, because he misses Sam - misses his sunshine smile and bright eyes and effortless optimism - but that stupid part of his head calls it self-preservation. Donna brings up the fact that Sam's leaving him messages in the sky, which Josh also ignores.

It's Thursday and four days before Sam moves when Josh finally unmutes him and sees the flood of messages that he's missed. 

He stares at the first - _6 pm at the usual place. Tonight -_ and types out a yes before he can think otherwise. 

* * *

Sam is sort of pissed. Well. Sort of is an understatement. 

"Are you avoiding me on purpose?" he asks, and Josh shrugs. Sam's face crumples and Josh hates himself a little for it. 

"I know things are going to be different, Webs," he says. "But we're still going to be friends, right? I'd like to hope we'll be."

"You sure about that?" comes out of Josh's mouth before he can say anything else, too cutting and too sharp to be called sarcasm. Before they'd been friends, this was their language - they'd been teenagers and too proud before CJ had collectively forced them to talk to each other and well. Josh looks at Sam. The rest is history. 

"What?" Sam's eyebrows crinkle. "Of course. You're my best friend. Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Because - " _Because you'll meet better people and cooler people and you'll forget about this. About us._ Josh says none of this, because it goes to show how far he's down this rabbit hole. He _is_ moping. And it's not just that Sam's moving: it's that Josh won't be there with him. It's that Sam'll be in New Jersey, at Princeton, without Josh ever letting him know all of him - not just Spider-Man. Donna _was_ right. 

"Because," Josh repeats in lieu of talking in actual sentences.

"I mean, we'll text, and call, and I'll definitely fly by on weekends," Sam says, near placating, but not exactly. It looks like he's saying it as much for himself as he is for Josh. "I'll still buy you Shake Shack and you'll buy me pizza and and we'll argue about why you should totally read Dickens. It's - what's up? I don't get it."

Josh stares at him for a minute, warm and bright and alive. His heart twists, just a bit, and before he's thinking about anything else, he's pulling off his mask. 

Huh. His mom was right too. He is one for the impulses. 

Sam's eyes are so, so wide and so, so blue. 

Josh tries to talk, tries to give him a grin, and his voice shakes when he says, "I told you it was a superpower, Torch. Making you speechless."

Sam mouths various words soundlessly; Josh catches _what the hell_ and _shit._ He tries to figure out the rest of it instead of focusing too hard on anything else.

"So -" he reaches up, runs a hand through his curls - Josh can do that now, jeez. "I'm. My - my name's Josh. Josh Lyman. Hi." He waves, a little pathetically, and it's only at this that Sam snaps out of it. 

"Josh Lyman?" Sam asks, nearly breathless. "Didn't - don't you intern for Daredevil?" 

Josh stares at him, caught off-guard. "I mean, yeah, but why do you -"

"She mentions you all the time," Sam says, waving his hands wildly. "I've been to her law practice and everything! Wait, you _know_ that she's Daredevil?" 

Josh does, in fact, know that. It's a long story. 

"I didn't want you to leave without knowing," he says, finally, and talking about it feels a lot easier than he'd thought it would. "Without knowing everything, you know. I mean, you're my best friend too, Sam, but - " Josh stops short, drops his eyes to the glittering water below. 

_"But?"_

"But it's more than that," Josh replies, his cheeks hot. "It's been more than that for a long time. I might love you, I think?" He can't even pinpoint when he'd tripped into this. "And, if, if you don't feel the same, that's - " 

"Josh," Sam says. It's the first time he's said Josh's name and it sounds good. Right. He dares to look at Sam. 

"Yeah?" 

"This might be a little bit hypocrital coming from me," Sam says, and then his hand's on Josh's cheek, _what the fuck._ "And you've been telling me it for years. But maybe take your own advice just this once, okay?"

Josh doesn't turn away. Doesn't breathe, maybe. "And what's that?"

"Shut up." 

And then Sam's lips are on his - they're hot, like a brand, like he is, but right. They're gentle; everything about this is gentle before Josh reaches up and kisses him back.

The kiss becomes something alive and waiting. Sam's hands go into his hair and Josh links his arms around his neck and shoves away every other thought that dares to crop up. Screw that. He's on top of the Statue of Liberty and he's kissing Sam Seaborn. 

* * *

"We're idiots," Sam says, when they're watching the sunset, spilling orange and yellow on the water. "At least, that's what Donna tells me." 

"She's right," Josh says, and it feels like he's on cloud nine. "We owe her a lot." 

"Yeah," Sam says, lacing their fingers together. "We probably need to get her like, a million fruit baskets or something."

Josh leans back to look at him, mouth ticking. " _Fruit baskets?_ Sam Seaborn, are you secretly sixty-five or something?" 

"Everyone can appreciate an artfully arranged fruit basket," Sam argues, and Josh exclaims _"Artfully?"_ before pulling him back in. 

After, Sam leans his forehead against his, running his thumb across the top of Josh's cheek. "I'm going to miss you," he whispers. "Even with - you know?"

"Your weekend attempts to crash the city?"

"Yeah," Sam smiles, quirks his head, dimple popping out. "You'll be with me, right?"

" _Obviously_ ," Josh scoffs, and Sam ducks his head, his smile turning shy. 

It's a moment before Josh says, "A fruit basket? Seriously, we're going to have to work on your gift-giving skills, Sammy," and Sam's shoulders shake before he looks up - he laughs and laughs and laughs, and it doesn't take long for Josh to join in. 

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, I guess you can decide who Daredevil is in this verse? I wrote this in fifteen minutes on my phone lol. So far I've got:  
> Sam: Human Torch  
> Josh: Spider-Man  
> CJ: Ms. Fantastic  
> Donna: Invisible Woman  
> Hoynes: Dr. Doom (ik ik but he sucks)  
> Joey: Hawkeye  
> P.S. Also yes the amazing bagman incident did happen to Josh  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
